Convert Your Harddisk from MBR to GPT for Windows 10 installation

Convert Harddisk from MBR to GPT for Windows 10 installation

You are here because Either you are regular visitor or when you are trying to install Windows 10 in your system you received the error message:-“Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is not of the GPT partition style”.so in this post we are going to explain the complete solution of this problem.

When installing Windows 10 on UEFI-based PCs using Windows Setup, your hard drive partition style must be set up to support either UEFI mode or legacy BIOS-compatibility mode.

For example, if you receive the error message: “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is not of the GPT partition style”, it’s because your PC is booted in UEFI mode, but your hard drive is not configured for UEFI mode.

Difference between MBR and GPT disk style:-

MBR is short for Main Boot Record, whose maximum size of disk is 2TB. And only allows you to create 4 primary partitions. If you want to build many partitions on MBR disk, the number of primary partition should be no more than three and plus one extended partitions, then you can make logical partitions on extended partition.

GPT which is short for DUID Partition Table has no limitation for the number of partition and the size of disk. But as for GPT, you should know that system installed on GPT disk can only be booted from UEFI (United Extensive Firmware Interface).

From the above lines we can understand that why Microsoft forcing us to use GPT disk style.

How to Convert harddisk type from MBR to GPT:-

Usually, there are 2 methods/way to convert Harddisk type from MBR to GPT.First One is with third party software in which you will not loss your data and the other one is with inbuilt Disk management software but with a big disadvantage that you have to delete all partition and you will loss all data of your system.So please choose a method which fulfill your requirements.

Method 1:-

How to Convert MBR to GPT without data loss?

If you want to install Windows 10 without loosing your data then this is the best way for you.

and in this method we are using a third party software.After many research and reading many related guide i found a software name is AOMEI Partition Assistant and it is able to Convert MBR to GPT disktype and vise-versa without Data Loss.AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is a powerful software for partition management. It allows users to convert MBR to GPT or convert GPT to MBR without deleting partitions and losing data. Besides this feature, it enables you to make bootable CD, allocated free space,migrate OS to SSD, andmore useful features.All Steps are explained below and please follow all steps carefully.

Step 1:Download AOMEI Partition Assistant software, install and launch it.Step 2: Right click on the disk you want to convert(disk 1) and then choose Convert to GPT Disk.

Step 3:Click OK to continue.

Step 4:Click Apply to perform all the operations.

Note:1.For system boot disk conversion between MBR and GPT styles, to guarantee system bootable, you need to enter BIOS and change the boot mode after the conversion is completed.

Note;2.If there are more than 4 partitions on GPT disk, you cannot convert GPT to MBR disk unless you delete some unused partitions and limit the primary partition number within four due to the limitation of MBR disk.Convert GPT to MBR

Method 2:-

Convert Hard disk type from MBR to GPT With built in Disk Management utility

Disk Management is a built-in tool in Windows 10 which allows you to create/delete/format/extend/shrink partition.And it also convert Harddisk type from MBR to GPT and vise-versa.To convert MBR to GPT , Right click on This PC and from the new menu click on Manage and from the new opened menu click on Disk Management. And then right click the disk you want to convert (take Disk 0 for example). In the pop-up windows, you can see “Convert to GPT Disk”. With this tool, you can only convert to GPT or MBR when there are no partitions on disk. so you must delete all the partitions on Disk 0 and then you can convert MBR to GPT.

The method mentioned above is able to convert MBR disk to GPT or GPT disk to MBR. Above method will need you to delete all the partitions on disk at first. So before you do, you should backup all the data you may wipe and thenrecover them. It seems you are in the risk of data loss.

Thats it i hope that our post “Convert Your HardDisk from MBR and GPT for Windows 10 installation”will solve the error“Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is not of the GPT partition style”.

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About Sourabh Kumar

Sourabh Kumar is a Tech savvy B.Tech(ECE) student living in Jaipur, India. He is a Blogger and fan of photography, technology, Robotics, and design. He is also interested in programming and innovation. He loves technology, gadgets and Spends lots of time with them.